Our dry weather seems to have set in to stay. The weathermen give us slight chances for hit and miss rains. Today was the first day I have seen the soybeans start to show stress, the leaves curl in the tight spots in the field. The long range forecast promises a cool down to the lower 90s by the middle of next week. With the hot dry weather, the number of fires has increased, generally small in nature and involving hay balers. Our corn is pretty much made, this weather will ding the yields a little on the later planted and longer maturity corn as the kernels will be a little smaller. A few are starting to chop silage, my corn is still green enough I doubt I will be chopping for a week or two at least. The soybeans are another matter. A week ago we had the best prospects we have ever had, today I noticed a few pods being aborted. In another week things will really start to deteriorate. But, this is typical August weather for Kansas.
The pastures are also starting to show some stress, the grass will lose protein and palatability quickly in this weather. My fall calves will go to auction tomorrow unless I have trouble gathering them. The market is good for feeders now because the $5 corn promised in the spring has not materialized and is not likely to. The fall calving cows have started dropping a few calves this last week, should be in high gear in another 10 days. We will have to start feeding supplement to anything calving or that we are trying to grow soon, as the grass will be little more than filler in a week or two, unless we can get a stray shower.